


5 Times Bucky Fell And Sam Caught Him

by annhamilton



Category: Captain America (Movies), MCU, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky develops a bad habit of falling, M/M, don't worry Sam's got him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2020-11-22 17:17:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20877848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annhamilton/pseuds/annhamilton
Summary: ....plus the one time he didn't.





	1. Fall From a Building

It’s supposed to be a simple mission. They'd all just been pardoned, the group was very fragile but the Acrods had been amended and both parties agreed that things needed to be worked out. And they needed some good press so when there were drones that looked vaguely humanoid, with nails and snapping teeth of iron, attacking the Bronx it looked a good opportunity. Bucky shot down drone after drone and the Avengers easily took over the army of drones. 

He was so used to working in almost complete silence that the constant chatter was foreign. 

“I think I just saw an actual falcon,” Sam said over the coms. “That’s shit’s crazy.” 

“Steve doesn’t like that kind of language,” Natasha said and other voices laughed over the coms. 

“Maybe my brain had been put through the blender to many times but I know that Steve swears like a sailor,” Bucky’s metal arm dismantled a drone. 

“Which is why it’s so funny,” Tony said, his repulsors roared and Bucky saw a flash of light from up above. 

An arrow whizzed past Bucky and stuck in a drone and then it lit up with electricity. Bucky couldn’t even see where Clint had placed himself. A wave of red from Wanda took out an entire group, she compressed the explosion of parts and shoved it into the concrete. 

He wondered if would ever get used to working with others like this. As a team. As equals. 

Bucky kept doing his job. It was strange, killing faceless, thoughtless things. No guilt crushed him. He could just enjoy the fight. He cleared the group that surrounded him when Steve spoke, “Guys I need a little backup,” Steve said and Bucky looked up to see him battling on top of an apartment building right next to Bucky.

“Why the hell are you up there,” Bucky said but he was already climbing the fire escape, he raced up to the top level. He saw a flash of red-white-blue, Steve was overwhelmed, the drones knew how to climb, some even followed behind Bucky, he shot them down as he went.

Bucky jumped unnaturally high and his fingers grasped at the roof. The com crackled in his ear. “Long story short I needed higher ground.” 

Bucky hauled himself up and started to shoot. He rained fire down on the drones climbing the building, they fell in heaps, the metal claws dug into the building. And Sam flew past, his wings arched and two guns in his hands. He shot down more drones but still more climbed up the building. 

Who the hell built these things? Bucky distantly thought of those movies he was forced to watch by his team. Lord of the Rings, in Return of the King they fought against an endless horde of orcs. This felt like it. Monster wrought of steel and iron. Dumb and easy to take down but there were so many of them. 

The sheer numbers could overwhelm cities. 

Bucky elbowed one to the side and Steve threw the shield at the thing's neck. Bucky snatched the shield out of the air, a distant memory played in his head. He’d done this before. He didn’t dwell on it much as he threw the shield back at Steve, decapitating a drone as it made its way into Steve’s hand. 

Bucky spun around as one got its razor-sharp claws into one of the tiny gaps in the paneling of Bucky’s arm that allowed movement. Bucky jerked his arm back, Tony had made him a new arm and it lacked the red star but it still had the same design. Same weaknesses to allow Bucky full movement. Bucky reached over to pull the claw out but the thing stopped him. The gun fell from his limp hand, he couldn’t move it. 

Bucky raised his rifle and—another claw dug into his shoulder and pushed him back. Bucky shot it but he couldn’t catch his balance as he stumbled back and he was too close to the edge. He got his balance just in time to hit the drone and pull wires from where a bullet hold exposed its inner workings. 

As if died it pushed them both off the edge of the roof and they fell.

Somewhere the smell of coal stung the air. The cold cut through the hot day and snow blanketed the world. A hand and a cry from up above. 

A drone hung off his arm, it’s wrist frozen upwards and Bucky was about to hit the pavement, he should survive with whatever Hydra did to him—some off rendering of the super-soldier serum—but what if it damaged his brain—more so than before. He tried to right himself so his legs would take the brunt of the impact. 

As he did so there was a flash of red and white a hand grabbed his hand and it pulled him in an arch, going with the wind while avoiding all the buildings.

Sam groaned as he supported Bucky’s weight. Bucky’s stomach dropped, they were so high, riding the wind like a true bird as they circled the rooftop, the wind kissed his skin, warm and sticky. Sam eased them lower to the rooftop with Steve on it. Bucky let go of Sam’s hand and rolled off the impact of the jump. 

“When you fall off a building,” Sam landed too, his wings snapped back into the storing device on his back. “Call for a flyer.” 

He was so used to working alone. He had a team as the Winter Soldier but not one that cared about anything other than the mission. “I’m not used to—” Bucky looked around himself at this team fighting, everyone helping each other and _ caring _about each other. “All of this.” 

He was so distracted that he didn’t notice a drone right behind him until Sam raised his gun and shot right into the thing a few times, the bullets shot right beside Bucky’s ear. 

“Don’t look so shocked, I can aim,” Sam said, not putting away his gun, he snapped his arms out and his wings extended. “And a piece of advice,” Sam turned away from him with a smirk. “Get used to it.” 

Sam stepped off the roof and flew across the city in a large arc before landing on a building and firing at a swarm of drones. 

Bucky stared at Sam as he fought, there an almost feline grace in how he moved, light and always ready to take to the sky. 

He heard a crash behind his head and turned to see Steve’s shield embedded in a drone and Captain America himself looking at him with an all-knowing smile and smirk. 

“What?” Bucky asked feeling like he was a stupid teenager getting caught doing something he shouldn’t. Bucky avoided Steve’s eyes by pulling the thing’s claws out of his arm. 

Steve chuckled. “In hindsight, I should have seen this coming.”

“Seen what?” 

Steve just nodded at Sam and back to Bucky. “You know.” 

Bucky tapped his earpiece to make sure his mic was off. “There isn’t anything—” 

“Save for someone who didn’t just see the hearts in your eyes.” 

“There weren’t hearts.” 

Steve just raised an eyebrow.

“Good news guys,” Tony said. “I traced the signal,” Tony blasted something close to the roof they were standing on. “Sending coordinates, Wilson you’re the closest, Wanda back him up.”

Bucky wished he had Sam’s fancy goggles only so he could see where they were going but he didn’t think he could pull it off. Bucky resumed fighting and watched as Sam and Wanda flew off.

Bucky couldn’t get the feeling of flying out of his head, it was terrible, being so high from the ground but something was exhilarating about it too. Something about being one with the wind and Sam’s hand sure and strong in his. 

He wasn’t sure if he had hated heights in his life before Hydra but he did now. 

“Got him,” Sam’s voice echoed in Bucky’s ear. Playful and endearing as he dealt with the guy behind all of this. 

It was only a few seconds later when all the drones dropped with a few last buzzes of power coming from them. Bucky kicked one off the roof for his own amusement. 

This was his first fight as a hero, as an Avenger, and he didn’t lose it. Didn’t turn into the Winter Soldier and hurt someone.

Steve turned back on his mic and had the nerve to wink at Bucky as he said, “Great work.”

“Now that that’s over with,” Sam started, mischief in his voice clear as day. “I don’t think Sergeant Barnes,” _ why did he have to say Bucky’s title like that. _“Knows who Luke’s father is.” 

Bucky didn’t have a voice kink before but damn he might develop one now. “Who’s Luke?” 

Sam chucked. “You’ll see.” 

Bucky had never been happier to watch a movie.


	2. Fall From a Jet

This was Bucky’s life now. Riding in a fancy jet to face a swarm of mechanical wasps. The wasps were clearly being controlled and had been attacking DC for a few hours before the Avengers could fly in, not all of them of course but Bucky, Sam, Rhodey and Natasha had been sent out.

Bucky couldn’t help but be surprised when Sam sat down next to him. Sam took a sip from his water bottle, his concerned eyes on Bucky.

“What?” Bucky asked. 

“Nothing, you just look confused.” 

“I’ve been told I always look confused.”

Sam shrugged. “Kind-of.” 

“Well I am confused about how there can be robot wasps and yet no flying cars,” Bucky fired back. “I was promised in the 1940s a flying car. I remember going with Steve to see some science thing.”

“Yeah, Steve told me about that when he was complaining about the same thing while we were in Brooklyn, looking for you.” 

“I was never in Brooklyn,” Bucky said even though he had, just to mess with Sam. 

“I looked for you for two years, man, where were you?”

“I stayed in DC for a bit, then went to London, then Wales, then Sicily, then Saint-Malo, then Budapest, and that’s just in the first few months.” 

“I was in all of those places and I never found you.”

“I was trained to avoid people hunting me,” Bucky said. “Where was your favorite place?” 

“I liked Rome,” Sam mussed, his expression vacant as he no doubts thought about his travels. “Saint-Malo was nice too.”

“Bucharest was a particular favorite of mine,” Bucky had been caught there but damn they had some good produce. “The plums were really good.” 

Sam scoffed. “I don’t mind plums but I’m more of a peach guy myself.” 

“Too sweet,” Bucky prayed he wasn’t misremembering what a peach tasted like. 

“You’d be the kind of guy who loves pineapple.” 

“I’ve never had it.” 

“I’ll get you some.” 

Bucky nodded and turned his head to the window. “Of maybe I’m just forgetting, Steve might know.” 

“I’m tired of hearing about you from Steve,” Sam said and he patted Bucky’s knee. “I want to get to know you from outside of Steve’s eyes, you know he is really bad at telling a story and he tells the same ones all the time. You’d think he’d get better at it.” 

“Which stories does he tell?” 

“When you forced him on the Cyclone, that’s a favorite of his. Um, when you two almost got arrested in a bar fight. When you tried to give Steve advice on how to pick up girls but it was terrible, although according to Steve you had game back in the day even though you were bad at giving advice.” 

“I still have game.” 

“Sure you do.” 

“I do,” Bucky insisted, he pushed back the thought of trying what he remembered of his  _ game  _ on Sam. “No one really wants to date an ex-assassin with memory problems.” 

“But you’re an Avenger now, man, that’s gotta be worth something with ladies.”

_ Not just the ladies.  _ It wasn’t the 1940’s, Bucky could say that but it got caught in his throat. “Maybe, but I don’t know if I’m ready for a relationship.”

“Don’t know until you try.”

“What about you?” Bucky asked. “Have you been on a date, lately?” 

“I couldn’t, I was looking for you.” 

“I was hiding from you.” 

They both chuckled. 

“I’ve never had a serious relationship,” Sam admitted. “Riley teased me about it relentlessly since he was madly in love.” 

“Whose Riley?” Bucky asked. 

“He was my wingman, literally, he had the same falcon suit and we flew together on missions overseas, but he wasn’t as lucky as I was and didn’t make it home.” 

Bucky bowed his head. “I’m sorry.” 

“I watched him fall and I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t find purpose in the military anymore so I left and started working as a counselor for vets, but now I’m back, this—” he gestured around him encompassing the Avengers as a whole. “Gives me purpose again. I sometimes wonder what Riley would say if he saw me now.” 

“He'd be proud.” 

“Or he’d call me stupid, I risked my life to help Captain America who I met once on my morning run.” 

“Steve has a way with people,” Bucky was taken blurry memories of meeting Steve. “But sometimes he can be so stupid, so thanks for keeping him alive during the whole fight against me.” 

“It wasn’t you,” Sam interjected quickly. Stopping that train of thought before it could even start. “Even though I kicked the Winter Soldier’s ass, I won’t count it.” 

“When was that?” 

“Excuse me, lovebirds,” Natasha drawled appearing right beside with an amused Rhodey by her side. “Are you done flirting because we’re here and we’ve got a swarm of wasps heading our way.” 

“We weren’t flirting,” they both said simultaneously, getting to their feet in sync too.

Nat and Rhodey shared a look but dropped it. “Sam, Bucky watch each other's six, Rhodey’s got mine. Keep your eyes open and communicate.” 

Bucky gave a small salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Rhodey and Sam you two go out and case the area, me and Bucky will land the jet and unload the sonic devices. Look for weaknesses and report anything weird.” 

“It’s a swarm of robot wasps,” Bucky said. “What isn’t weird about it.” 

Rhodey barked a laugh. “Not the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“After you see aliens everything else loses its charm,” Natasha shrugged and then ushered Rhodey and Sam out. 

When the doors opened for Rhodey and Sam to jump out of Bucky turned his head from the sight of the drop. 

“If you’re gonna stay in this line of work,” Sam snapped his arms out and his wings answered the call and extended. “You should get used to heights.” 

Bucky didn’t have time to respond because Sam leaped from the jet. 

As Sam and Rhodey left a group of wasps entered the jet. 

“Damnit,” Natasha said and closed the doors quickly but so many were already in the jet. “The last scans of the area said they were further away.” 

“We’ve been duped,” Sam said over the comms. “These things can go way faster than the report says.” 

Bucky swatted away the wasps but they weren’t after him, they’d clustered around the controls and attacked Natasha’s hands.

And then the quinjet titled on its side. A wave a sickness fell over Bucky at the overwhelming feeling of vertigo. Luckily the doors were closed. They rose higher and higher until they were touching the clouds. Sam and Rhodey who’d been let out the case the area looked like songbirds from up so high. 

“Wasps, they flew in the jet,” Natasha said over the comms and in Bucky’s ear over the roaring buzz in the jet. “A whole load of ‘em attacked when you guys opened the doors.”

Bucky held onto the seat and the jet started to spin over itself. It kept going and going, head over heels and Bucky was going to be sick. The wasps started to turn the jet faster, and it was somersaulting through the air, way too fast. Like those sickening rides that flung you around, so different from the rides Bucky grew up riding—he’d ridden wooden roller-coaster a few times and according to his faulty memories, it had been rickety and cracked and groaned. 

Bucky held on tightly so he wasn’t flung around waiting for it to stop. It did, it stopped and tilted to the side, the door was under his feet and then they wasps opened the door. 

He held on with his might. The metal wouldn’t fail him.

“Guys!” Bucky yelled. “We need some back-up.” 

“We’re being swarmed,” Rhodey said in his ear. “They're getting in all the cracks in my suit as fast as I can get rid of them. I am working on getting under you guys. Hold on.” 

“Sam?” Bucky asked. 

“I’m avoiding them,” Sam cut off as he probably dodged more wasps. “They’re surrounding the jet,” 

“We can’t hold on forever,” Natasha’s voice sounded strained and he realized she didn’t have a metal arm. 

Then the other doors opened and the jet started to spin again. Bucky grit his teeth and held on, so did Nat. 

He silently urged Sam to be ready to catch him. He didn’t want Sam to have to watch someone else fall in front of him, unable to do anything. Bucky closed his eyes and didn’t look down. It would only make things worse. 

“Shit,” Natasha yelled.

Bucky opened his eyes and was greeted with a drop of thousands of feet. The wasps had them so high but they stopped spinning them. 

They stopped in favor of attacking him and Natasha.

They nipped at Bucky’s hands with their tiny teeth, ripping skin and drawing blood. But they stopped biting, only to land on Bucky and send electric pulses through him. Bucky held on with only his metal arm. Since the other was too damaged to hold on. But he knew that his metal arm wouldn’t last forever

At least when they let out an electric pulse or would bite they seemed to die. 

But Bucky couldn’t fight them. 

At least fifty landed on the metal arm, a few leaving Nat to land on his arm. His arm was covered with the tiny robots and Bucky realized what they were going to do in second. 

They all went off at the same time. 

Bucky’s arm seized up and he was falling. Hundreds of feet up in the sky he started to fall. DC laid out below him, so far away and getting closer. 

Closer. Time was a rubber band stretched thin. Time slowed as it stretched, seconds were minutes enough for Bucky to wonder what such a fall will do him. Enough for him to feel the burn of the wind, feel gravity pulling him back down. 

Then the band snapped together and everything was a blur, his heart in his throat, he spun and couldn’t right himself and the ground was getting closer. 

So high and not high enough because the ground—

Strong arms wrapped around him. Wings blotted out the sun and Sam held him tightly. But they were still so high up, high enough that his stomach was twisted in a knot.

Sam, as if sensing his fear, whispered in his ear, “Close your eyes and hold on.” 

Bucky, unable not to, obeyed. The wind cut at him and soon the ground was beneath his feet and Nat was next to Rhodey, looking unsteady. Bucky put a hand on his stomach. 

“I’m never doing that again,” Bucky said, he looked up and the fucking mechanical wasps were coming at them. He felt the phantom sensation that he was still falling. “Like ever.” 

“There go my weekend plans,” Sam said and then took to the skies again, he had such a grace him Bucky was taken by it, how he glided through the sky, truly like a bird, weaving in loops and circles and— 

“Are you going to stare at your boyfriend all day or are we going to fight?” Natasha asked. 

Bucky’s head snapped to look at her. “Sam isn’t my boyfriend,” Bucky said and he heard Sam sigh over the coms. The team didn’t care what they said and continued to tease Sam and Bucky about it. 

“Sure,” Nat said. 

And they fought and Sam and Rhodey lured all the wasps into one clump and he and Nat hit them with a sonic blast and shot down all the stragglers. 

“The signal keeps changing,” Rhodey said landing next to Bucky, it sent vibrations through the ground. “It says the source is in Tokyo, then Beijing, then Moscow.” 

“I’ve always wanted to go to Tokyo,” Sam’s voice came from right behind Bucky. He didn’t even hear Sam's approach. “Why couldn’t your trail lead there.” 

“It seemed too crowded,” Bucky said, he could  _ feel  _ Sam behind him. “To enjoy.” 

“I think I’ll go there when I get some vacation time,” Sam moved to stand beside Bucky, giving him a smug smile. 

“I should have gone to Hawaii, I’m getting sick of all this cold,” Bucky muttered because they were in the dead of winter and he needed a thicker jacket. Steve always ran hot according to Dr. Cho and he always ran cold. The serum they gave him mixed with all the cyro made it almost impossible for Bucky to get warm and made him more sensitive to the cold.

“Then let's get inside one of SHIELD’s strongholds,” Natasha holstered her guns. “And wait for the decryption program to work and then we go get the bastard behind all of this.”

“Any casualties?” Bucky asked. 

“Seven people were killed and many others were hospitalized,” Natasha gave him a curt nod. “We did good work.” 

Bucky took a deep breath and he felt Sam’s hand on his shoulder. “Sometimes it happens; even as a superhero you can’t save everyone.” 

Bucky nodded, feeling like he was sinking, sinking deep inside of himself. Seven people died. People with families and lives. 

(How many people has he killed) 

Sam patted his shoulder, a silent comfort, he was about to leave but Bucky grabbed his wrist. He dropped it as fast as he took it. 

“Thank you,” Bucky’s throat was dry, he was thankful for Rhodey and Nat giving them some space. “For the catch.” 

“I’m getting good at catching you,” Sam said with that easy tone he always used but there were fault lines in it. “But don’t make a habit out of this.” 

“Wow,” Bucky put a dramatic hand to his chest. “I didn’t know you cared.”

“Yes, you did,” Sam smirked and had the nerve to wink at Bucky. “But if you did fall to your death I’d be Steve’s only best friend.” 

Bucky laughed, no longer feeling like he was sinking. There was something about Sam that smoothed his harsh edges, made it easy to breathe. “But don’t worry I still very much don’t like heights.” 

It was Sam’s turn to laugh. “Believe it or not, I used to be scared of heights too, when I was a wee little thing, I wouldn’t go on any rides but I grew out of it once I was forced on a roller-coaster and I loved it.” 

Bucky could see it, Sam feeling like he was flying for the first time. Finding something he loved and holding on to that feeling. 

“You’ll never get me on those new, crazy, roller-coasters. I’ll stick with the wooden ones.”

“I can try.” 

Deep down Bucky knows if Sam pulled him on a new crazy ride he’d go. For the same reason, Steve went on the Cyclone, when you care about someone you try what they love. 

But Sam didn’t need to know that. Because the way Bucky cares about Sam isn’t how he cares about Steve and it can’t be mutual. Sam isn’t delicate but Bucky would break him, hold him to the ground. Rip off his wings like he did while he was in the Winter Soldier mindset. 

He didn’t know what he was doing but he still did it. 

And Sam deserved so much more than whatever Bucky could offer him. 


	3. Fall From His Feet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not to be dramatic but i'd die for both these stupid boys 
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING; suicide (a minor character's) and depressive thoughts

The signal unscrambled after around two hours of uneasy waiting. It traced to a house in D.C around 12 miles from them. They set out and Rhodey read out who owned the house but Bucky wasn’t listening. 

He’s learned to trust his instincts and something felt so terribly wrong. He could almost feel the net drawing in around them. 

Sam kept glancing at him and something about Sam’s eyes on Bucky made his heart pound, made him feel like Sam saw past all his layers and walls. 

Bucky didn’t say anything on the ride over and when they got there, he still couldn’t shake the feeling of a net of shadows ensnaring them. 

Bucky ignored it but when they reached the front door it was unlocked. 

“That’s never good,” Natasha said. 

Bucky couldn’t help but nod, he raised his gun and slowly they entered. 

Silently, they split up and Sam and Bucky went down a set of stairs and into a basement lined with computer screen and tools. At the center of it, a woman with a gun stood.

It was a handgun and Bucky pointed his assault rifle and Sam his twin guns at her. But then she turned the gun on herself.

“I saw my father killed by the Winter Soldier because he was changing the world and now his killer an Avenger,” she dropped something on the ground.

“No,” Sam yelled but the bullet had left the chamber and embedded itself in her forehead and Bucky stumbled back as if shot. But the real person shot fell down, boneless and with a cry of agony. Blood sprayed over the floor as she fell forward her eyes wide open.

Bucky was standing so close the blood-soaked his shoes. On the floor was a locket, a small golden heart on a matching gold chain. Blood covered it but it was clearly old. 

Her father must have been a scientist and Bucky had killed him. Bucky crouched down and picked up the locked, it felt like it weighed a ton.

Sam said something but it fell on deaf ears. Silence took over, it’s cold hand gripped the room like a vice. It held Bucky like chains of iron. Silence as if the gunshot carved out his eardrums, as if the blood from the woman cast a spell of silence over the room.

Bucky opened the locket. Imagine the ocean, huge and unfathomably deep with waves big enough to whisk you away. Now imagine drowning. 

Bucky did. He drowned as he saw the man's face and it was one of the kills that they hadn’t bothered to make it look like an accident. It was a message to all the man's colleagues. He’d sunk into his house in the dead of night and slit the man's throat. 

He remembered all of them. All of them, how his eyes opened in fear and when his daughter—who must have had a nightmare and climbed into his bed for comfort—opened her eyes and screamed.

He’d left in a blur leaving no trace of himself besides in that girl's mind behind. 

Her screams echoed in the basement.

It broke the silence like a mirror and Sam’s face was in front of Bucky’s. “It’s okay, Bucky. It wasn’t you.”

It wasn’t. But he still remembered the face of a child seeing her father’s throat slit—he couldn’t remember himself, all he knew was the feeling of flesh going away under his knife. Her scream like it had crawled up from the pit of her gut. Her eyes, a child's eyes, supposed to be filled with wonder, filled with fear and agony.

Bucky fell. It was hardly three inches. The ground was so close and covered in blood and Sam’s steady hands were on his shoulders. Anchors in him. They pulled him from the ocean and Bucky closed his eyes as Nat and Rhodey descended the stairs. 

“Breathe. Follow me.” Sam took an exaggerated deep breath.

Bucky closed his eyes and forced air through his lungs, it was shattered glass and he couldn’t hold it with Sam.

“In.” 

Bucky couldn’t hold it.

“Out.” 

Bucky reached for air and couldn’t get it. 

“In.” 

“Out.

A pendulum. Constant. Back and forth and back and

“In”

“Out”

On it went until the broken glass in his lungs had been coughed up. When breath became easier. The locket was still like the weight of the sky in his hand but it didn’t burn his hand. 

“Sorry,” Bucky said now that he had the breath. 

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Sam helped him up. “I got your back.” 

Natasha and Rhodey had gone somewhere else and given them privacy. Bucky felt so many things at once it all became numb. Cold as the chamber they locked him in. 

Bucky washed his blood-covered hands in the bathroom sink of a dead woman. Bucky stared at his reflection, he wondered what pre-Hydra him would think of this man. 

1940s Bucky would love Sam. In every life Bucky in helplessly in love with Sam Wilson, it's a fact of life. 

Bucky was damaged and he hated feeling like this, like he was fragile and anything could break him. 

A knock on the door jolted Bucky out of his trance. “It’s Sam.” 

Of course, because Sam has a heart of gold. “Come in.” Bucky still had the water running but his hands were braced on the edge of the sink. “What do you need?” 

“A resort in Hawaii,” Sam quipped as he leaned against the door frame. “Are you okay?” 

Bucky bit down the yes on his tongue. Sam deserved more than lies. “I don’t know. When I was the Winter Soldier anytime I started to really think they’d read they’d wipe me or put my cyro and I’m still not used to just being able to feel. I think I’m doing it wrong.” 

Sam scoffed. “You can’t _ feel wrong. _There is no right or wrong when it comes to these kinds of things. But there are healthy and unhealthy ways of dealing with it and right now I don’t think you're doing it the healthy way.”

Bucky turned away from Sam. His reflection stared back. “What do I do about that?” 

“You get help, friends can only help so much. You need professional help, man. I know in the 40’s mental health was taboo but it’s not anymore. And before you ask it can’t be me but I know some good people who can help you.” 

Just the thought of therapy made Bucky uncomfortable, spilling everything out to a stranger. 

(He used to not be able to keep anything from his handlers, his mind was theirs, his body, his soul. He was owned in every way)

But for Sam. 

“I don’t know,” Bucky said. 

Sam stepped closer to him and Bucky didn’t move. He couldn’t when Sam’s body brushed up against his arm. He looked away and then back to Sam’s eyes. 

“You try so hard to keep so much inside,” Sam whispered like it was a secret. 

“I don’t know how else to do it,” Bucky felt like Sam knew something he didn’t. He felt like Sam was miles ahead of him.

“I got your back,” Sam repeated, he put a hand on Bucky’s shoulder and gave a small smile. “And I know you’ve got mine.” 

Before Bucky did anything stupid like kissing him, Sam left. 

Alone in a dead woman's bathroom, Bucky closed his eyes. 

_ I got your back. _

No one had his back before. 

They’d use him as a shield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the next chapter will be up faster than this one was.


	4. Fall From a Skyscraper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I promise longer? well I had to rearrange the chapter for um **dramatic purposes** but at least this was fast

“Okay,” Bucky said, looking down at New York sprawled under him. “Why exactly are we doing this.” 

“It’s like a trust fall,” Steve said from behind him. “But higher.” 

Bucky stared at the long drop from Stark Tower to the streets of New York, whoever was going to catch him was nowhere to be seen. “I get that but why.”

Steve laughed. They’d decided the order of the non-flyers jumps by drawing sticks. Literally. And the flyers had divided themselves up and organized who’d catch who secretly, and scattered in the area around the Tower. 

Bucky forced his eyes up from the people of New York who looked like tiny ants. God, he was so high up. 

Bucky put one foot up on the ledge. Then the other. He took a deep breath. Steadied himself, Hydra had taken all weakness from him, he’d been able to get hurt and keep going. Pain was nothing to the Winter Soldier. 

_ I got your back.  _

Sam didn’t see him as the Winter Soldier. Bucky closed his eyes and he stepped up.

Bucky’s stomach plummeted. The wind lashed as him and a few people looked up at the falling figure. 

His heart in his throat, he fell and the skyscrapers were blurs around him. The ground was so close and he almost hit the pavement when Sam snatched him out of the air, he’d swept under Bucky and now they were pressed chest to chest and Sam’s wings curved as he turned over and Bucky was under him instead of on top and this was so much worse and Sam weaved around the buildings. 

Sam’s laughed, as he led Bucky in a weaving circle around New York as if it was some kind of dance and not hundreds of feet from the ground. 

“What are you doing,” he yelled in Sam’s ear. 

Sam laughed again and Bucky shut his eyes. “A victory lap,” Sam said and Bucky hoped they were heading back to the Tower. “You don’t like it?” he asked with faux innocence. 

Bucky held on for dear life and just hoped it would be over soon. And it was. Soon Bucky’s feet were under him and Steve was next to jump off the Tower. 

Bucky pressed his hand his racing heart.

He really hated heights. 


	5. Fall From A Spaceship

A circle of golden sparks jolted everyone in the living room into a fighting stance. Lights flashed red and the alarm beeped. A man in a red cape stepped through the portal.

“Avengers,” he nodded at all of them. “I’m Doctor Steven Strange. Please come with me, it’s not overselling it to say the fate of the universe is at stake.” 

Bucky stared at the man and Sam was right next to him, slightly in front of Bucky as if he was the one with a metal arm. Bucky stepped past him and when their eyes met what was in their gaze was complicated; disbelief, doubt and a kernel of _ what if he’s not lying.  _

Everyone was startled again when someone else came through the portal. It’s Bruce Banner and he was in bad shape, covered in dust and the look on his face was pure terror and dread. 

Tony and Pepper had just made it down the steps. “Bruce?” Tony brushed easily through the other Avengers, Pepper on his heels. “FRI, stop the alarms.” 

“Tony,” Bruce fell into Tony’s arms. He mumbled something in Tony’s shoulder that it made the facade he almost always wears fall. It shattered into pure fear. A moment of vulnerability that he quickly covered. 

“Thor’s gone,” Bruce said, loud enough for the whole room to hear, the rest of the Avenger rushed and stopped as they took in the scene, weapons were drawn but they made no move to strike. “Thanos is coming, he already has two stones and he’s coming here for the other two.” 

“The other two what?” Bucky demanded. “Am I missing something?” 

“Infinity Stones,” Strange said. “The stone in Vison’s forehead is one and,” his hands went to a golden necklace around his neck and he lifted up the thick pendant. “I have the other one. Mind and Time respectively. Thanos has the Space Stone—or the Tesseract—and the Power Stone."  


“Thor said he was going to investigate the Stones,” Tony continued. “And now he’s dead.” 

“Almost all of Asgard, Tony,” Bruce said and Tony took a step back as if struck. Pepper’s hand was on his shoulder in a second, supporting and steadying. 

“Asgard is full of warriors that could put us to shame,” Steve pointed out, standing next to Tony and Pepper. 

Tony rubbed his hand over his face.“Tell me his name again?” 

“Thanos,” Bruce answered. “Tony he’s a plague, he invades planets, wipes out half the population. He sent Loki. The attack on New York, that was him. He already has two stones and that makes him the most powerful being in the galaxy.” 

“Does this Thanos have an army?” Steve asked.

Bruce looked at his shoes and nodded. 

“Then we meet him with one.” 

Before they could hear Steve’s plans another alarm started to blare. “An unidentified object entered the atmosphere above Manhattan.” 

In less than two minutes Bucky had his gun in one hand and Sam’s arm in the other. The windows dropped and they all saw what looked like a black giant donut crashing down on the streets. 

Sam’s wings snapped out and they backed up, all the other flyers and non-flyers had teamed up and were doing similar routines. 

“Close your eyes and hold on,” Sam said and Bucky obeyed and followed Sam’s lead as they ran off the ledge and jumped. 

There was a small sensation of falling but then they swept up and barreled forward, gravity pulled them down and the wind pushed them on as they rode it like they were real birds. 

Bucky didn’t look. He just held on with a bruising grip until his feet in the ground. People screamed and ran around them. Bucky and Sam went against the stream of fleeing people. 

The others landed around them and Wanda set herself in front of all of them. She shoved Natasha back and she was barely older than a teenager and thought she should be on the front because she could move things with her mind. 

Red exploded from her hands and hit the two things that stepped out from the donut. But some invisible shield pushed her magic back and it hit her like a brick wall and she crashed into the ground. 

Natasha, Vision, and Tony stepped protectively in front of her body. Wanda pushed herself into a sitting position. 

“Your powers are nothing compared to mine,” one of the aliens spat, the pale one with magic. “You all are nothing but your lives will have meaning to die in the name of—.” 

“I’m sorry,” Tony interrupted. “Earth is closed today.” 

It or he or whatever turned to Natasha. “Does this chattering animal speak to for you.” 

“I speak for myself,” Nat took a defensive stance, raised her dual quarterstaffs and blue electricity ran over them.

The wizard opened a portal in front of the Avengers and stepped out. “You’re trespassing in this city and on this planet.” 

“He means get lost Squidward,” Tony raised his repulsors and the back of his suit expanded and two shards flanked him, more repulsors hummed and aimed. 

The Avengers closed in the ranks and all weapons were drawn. Bucky aimed for the squidward looking alien. 

“He exhausts me,” Squidward said to his goon and then the world shook as he sent his magic forward and Rhodey, Tony, and Strange sent blasts to counter it.

Over the comms. Steve said, “Get Vision is the middle, keep the stone away from them.” 

The Avengers shifted and Vision protested but they all ignored him. “Bucky, Sam,” Steve continued over the comms. “Fly over the aliens and destroy their ride.” 

“Got it, Cap,” Sam said and held out his arm like he was offering it to a lady to walk with him. Bucky took a deep breath and accepted Sam’s arm. They ran back and jumped, the wind caught Sam’s metal wings and Bucky still hated heights. 

“Close your eyes,” Sam yelled and Bucky did. He forced himself to breathe, air was under his feet and Sam’s arm locked around his. He hated heights and yet he trusted Sam more than almost anything. 

Sam wouldn’t let him fall. 

When pavement was under his feet again he opened his eyes to see an all-out battle going on behind them. But the magic alien guy was heading for them and he raised his hands. 

It felt like a freight train. 

Bucky and Sam were shoved back. It was like a brick wall pushed them back, the air that shifted to something so against nature. 

Bucky would look like a mime trying to get past. “Shit,” Bucky cursed but the spell dropped as if shit was the magic world. The spaceship launched into the air with no one in it and the magic alien’s sights were on Bucky and Sam. 

God, it was going to kill them. 

Blue electricity ran over the alien-like vines and a widow bite was stuck to his neck. He shook it off but it gave them all the time to run. They ran between two buildings and the others continued to fight. 

“Do not drop any high power explosives yet,” Tony’s voice cracked in his ear. “The evacuations aren’t done yet.” 

“Copy,” Rhodey said. 

Bucky looked at Sam but Sam’s eyes were caught on the spaceship; rising and rising and the beam under it that encased Strange who was wrapped in iron bars that were bent like ropes around his body. 

Sam was beside him one heartbeat and the next he was climbing up the fire escape and Bucky, without thinking, followed. 

Sam reached the top and before he could jump Bucky grasped Sam’s bicep, with his human hand. (Bucky didn’t like to touch Sam with his metal arm.)“What are you waiting for?” Bucky asked with fake confidence. 

Sam looped his arm around Bucky's waist and they jumped. They joined the birds on the wind. With feathers on his feet, they reached the ship just as the beam sucked Strange into the ship. The others were still fighting the goon who had some space weapons. 

“Strange has been taken, flyers to the flying donut thing,” Natasha yelled into her wrist and into everyone's ears.

Rhodes turned from the fight but the thing was going so fast. He and Sam’s feet landed on the inside of the donut. They were so high that clouds whisked around them. Rhodey shot the spaceship with a sonic blast and it knocked back the spaceship and titled it slightly on its side.

Bucky dropped down to hold at the ship and Sam fell off without metal to grip for him. But he had wings and was flying around the ship. 

The air was thin up here. Bucky forced himself to take normal breaths. 

“Bucky, you gotta jump,” Sam’s voice was sure in Bucky’s ear. “I’ll catch you.” 

Rhodey was going to destroy the thing with a blast and he had to jump. Sam would catch him. He always did. But his feet were anchored to the ship, the ligaments in his knees were stone and his blood was lead. He was so heavy— 

(when he landed on a car he shattered the glass unlike Steve who landed like a ballerina, unlike Sam who was so light, like a bird, made to fly) 

—he would fall and sink like a bolder. 

It was stupid but Sam didn’t laugh. 

“Close your eyes,” Sam said, he always said that. “Take a deep breath and step off, I’m right under you.” 

Bucky was a soldier. He’s always been one. Hydra had broken him down into his that, taken his broken pieces that all screamed soldier and made a mosaic. 

He followed orders. 

He closed his eyes and did as he was told. He hated the feeling of falling with nothing below you for miles. He was heavy—nothing in him was like a bird. He was heavy with steel ligaments, and lead blood. He was dead weight falling. 

Sam wasn’t. Sam whose shoulders and back always seem to beg for wings. Whose lean body was made for flight, his bones are light, and blood like air. Sam caught him, an arm around his waist and their bodies pressed together. 

An ear-shattering blast ripped through the sky and the spaceship crumpled. Strange opened a portal and fell into it. Rhodey hit the alien with a blast of white-hot fire and then a sonic blast. He did that again and soon the alien was unable to use his magic and landed dead on the ground. 

Red magic encased the falling debris, Wanda stood on the ground her arms outcast as she pressed all the pieces together and lowered it onto the street.

Bucky closed his eyes and he and Sam drifted down, like a snowflake gently landing in a bed of snow on an easy breeze. Bucky detangled himself from Sam and finally saw the others with the alien dead on the ground. 

Bucky breathed easier. “Let’s not do that again.” 

Sam laughed, it sounded so good to hear, it was like every time Sam laughed because of something Bucky said; it made him feel important, it made him feel good to hear such a euphoric sound from Sam’s lips. 

“There go my Sunday plans,” Sam quipped. 

Bruce Banner was still Bruce Banner and he shook his head, his shoulders were slumped as if the weight of the world rested on them. “He’ll come for the Stones, he already has two.” 

“We won’t let him get two more,” Stark said but his voice shook a bit. His eyes were frantic as he scanned the destruction the fight made. Looking for more. He was always looking for more. 

“I don’t think you understand the threat here,” Strange said, bitter and accusing.

Tony stepped forward, his suit in the storing unit in his chest again. “It’s you who doesn’t understand that Thanos has been inside my head for six years, since he sent an army to New York and now he’s back.” 

“And what are we supposed to do about it?” Strange asked. 

Sam scoffed, easily falling into the conversation and Bucky tailed him for the few steps he took. “We’re the Avengers, we’re going to fight.” 

Bucky felt the net draw around them, they might not win. And if they lose they will lose everything. 

Strange shook his head. “We’ll lose.” 

“So?” Bucky asked before he could think. “Just because we might lose doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight at all. I sure as Hell won’t surrender without a fight.”

Strange closed his eyes as if all this talk brought him so much pain. “I just want you all to know what you’re getting into.”

“We know,” Sam said and everyone nodded. “But if there is even a small chance we might win we have to take it.” 

“Then you have my help.” 

It should have felt good to have a wizard on their side but it there was hardly any relief. All he felt was that they were all falling, slowly, so slowly from so high up. 

There was regret deep in there too, he was probably going to die and he hadn’t really lived. He hasn’t told Sam…

Oh, God,  _ Sam.  _

Sam could die and that thought was so terrifying it almost knocked Bucky off his feet. Something kept his lips shut, they were sewn shut with a thread of fear. Fear of rejection. 

Schrodinger’s cat. 

If he said nothing he could make-believe Sam feels the same but if he asks that fantasy is gone. 

Bucky was a soldier and so was Sam. He wouldn’t ask Sam to sit out the fight but he would be damn sure he did his best to make sure Sam saw another day.


	6. Fall From Magic

Bucky’s heart was pounding and his blood flooded with adrenaline. From all the TV and movies he’s watched it felt wrong to fight such a battle under the blazing sun. The stars should witness this event, this bloodshed should be kept in the shadows. 

Thanos had sent more of minions down the Earth and even Wakanda was starting to fall under Thanos’ hand, under the blood they had to spare.

This certainly felt like the end of the world. 

A talking raccoon from space asked for his arm and gun. He truly was a man out of his time. 

(Not that he truly remembers his time) 

Bucky felt almost outside of his body. Everything was static, the world was screaming, people were screaming, the creatures were crying out and yet it felt oddly silent.

A cold feeling washed over Bucky. He ran, his legs more unsteady than ever before. When he found out about aliens it almost comforted him how much more was out there, how little he truly mattered but now they stood between Thanos and him getting an Infinity Stone. 

“Guys,” Bruce said, loud in Bucky’s ear. Fear wrapped around his voice, around his throat, it sounded like it would strangle him. “That’s him.” 

“He has five Stones,” Cap said. “Eyes up.” 

Bucky got there in time to see Bruce grounded and Steve standing there. Stupid, stupid, Steve, he hasn’t changed and he never will. Thanos looked surprised even as Steve held open his hand, grunting and grimacing as he poured every ounce of strength into this. 

A burst of red from the distance. Bucky saw in the cloud of red Wanda standing there. Unfathomable power poured out from her hand. 

Thanos’ eyes caught Wanda standing there and his fist connected with Steve’s head. Bucky had been protecting Steve for years he can hardly remember but it’s almost instinct to run and catch Thano’s golden gauntlet in his human hand and punch Thanos in the neck with his metal one. Thanos’s head snapped back but Bucky switched his hands so gold and vibranium twisted together.

Thanos grabbed Bucky’s vibranium arm and his hand was big enough to wrap all the way around. Bucky pulled against the grip but Thanos tightened it. 

“My daughter has an arm like this,” Thanos kept his eyes on the arm as his grip got tighter and tighter and vibranium gave way under his hand. His grip was strong enough to completely break off his bicep and down of his arm. Thanos wasn't done yet, he placed his hand on the rest of his arm and tore. 

A million needle-like pains shot around his arm as the entire arm was ripped off and all the connecting nerves, sensors wires were ripped from his skin. Blood dripped down Bucky’s side. It wasn’t a clean tear, bits of vibranium and wires stuck out and his blood wet them all. 

Bucky held up his forearm to stop the punch Thanos was going to hit him with. Their forearms locked together. Thanos didn’t push against his. He took the time to look Bucky over again. He felt like when his Handlers would look him over, checking for flaws and problems. Looking at him like he was an animal. 

“My daughter also doesn't know when to give up,” Thanos lowered his arm and didn’t move. “She doesn’t see when battles are lost. She doesn’t see that not everything has to be a fight.” 

Everyone is giving their all and here Thanos was talking about his daughter. “When people like you exist,” Bucky braced himself, he saw Natasha running towards them. “There will always be a fight.” 

Thanos scoffed and curled his gauntlet covered hand into a fist. The purple stone came to life and Bucky saw lifted high above the trees. All the breath left his lungs. He was so high up, covered in a purple light that moved like waves over the air. 

The purpled threw him back and higher and disappeared. He was so used to falling he looked to find Sam and there he was. Behind Nat charging for Thanos. With a flick of his wist they’re frozen, Sam’s eyes meet his as Thanos pushed him and Nat back a few paces and rose up roots and entangle them.

Bucky hardly noticed he was so close to the ground. Sam’s mouth moved but Bucky heard nothing as he hit the ground. 

_ “Bucky, you bastard wake up.” _

_ “If you don’t wake up, I swear, Bucky, I’ll bring you back from the dead to kill you myself.” _

_ “I steal all your stupid socks.” _

_ “Come back to me.” _

Bucky drifted between nothingness and too much. Flashes of half-remembered moments. Flashes of pain and suffering. Of falling, lit by the sun and Sam not there to catch him. Of Sam catching him, strong arms and laughter in his ear.

Black. Nothingness. No pinprick stars, nothing. The haziness is a drug he can’t shake. He feels the quiet and oh how he hates and loves it. 

It’s too much like before and it makes before bearable. 

Bucky opened his eyes to dim lights. His brain is foggy but he knows he’s in Wakanda from the buildings looking back at him. Music played. “Did we get him.” 

Sam chuckled. “Of course you’d ask that. Thor got him.” 

Bucky turned his head from the window to look at Sam. “Yay, I lived. I like doing that.” 

Steve got a little smirky look on his face. “You gave death your best shot.” 

His whole body was sore and he didn’t even think about getting up in his condition. But he wanted to hug Sam. Kiss the melancholy look from his eyes. “It’s not your fault.” 

“I’m supposed to catch you.” 

Bucky gave him a small smile, to show he was okay. “I should try not falling.” 

“That’ll never happen,” Sam leaned back against his chair. “For someone who doesn’t like heights all that much, you sure find your way to them.”

“Sorry, I’m such a damsel in distress.” 

“It just gives me more practice to be your knight in shining armor.”

“My knight in shining armor?” Bucky closed his eyes, suddenly feeling a lot more like going to sleep. His brain to mouth filter was almost gone. “I like the sound of that.” 

“Really?” 

“You saving me all the time is kinda hot.” He probably shouldn’t have said that but the words fall from his lips anyway. He can’t take them back and right now he just almost died and it put everything into perspective. 

“Is there a ‘no homo’ at the end of that.” 

“No. I believe it’s very gay. I’m very gay. For you.” 

Bucky drifts back into dreams before Sam can respond.

  
  


When he next wakes up Steve and Sam are there. “Hey, Buck.” 

The drugs are still working their magic, he feels almost weightless. He hardly remembers anything. “Hey yourself.”

“For someone with a broken back, you have a lot of sass.” 

Bucky was wide awake for a second. “Broken back?” 

Steve’s eyes widened. “I thought Sam told you, I didn’t mean to spring it on you.” 

“What else.” 

Steve hesitated. “Nerve and muscle damage to your shoulder and the area around it. Your legs are broken in two places and your wrist is fractured. But you heal fast, like me. So you will make a full recovery. I know you will.”

Bucky swallowed hard. “I’m tired.” He wanted to lie down and sleep forever.

It was Sam who responded gently, “Then sleep.” 

Bucky did. 

  
  


He woke again more aware of his body. He was in a brace, a few braces on his neck and back and legs and wrist. Sam and Steve were talking, he didn’t open his eyes this time. 

They were talking about him. 

“How didn’t you see it?” 

“You saw it?”

“Everyone with eyes saw it.” 

“I thought it was just teasing.” 

“It was but it was teasing on facts,” Steve moved around in his chair. “So what are you going to do about.”

“I’m going to take him out for a nice dinner,” Sam made it sound so serious, like he was vowing something with the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I can’t believe we were both pinning like teenagers.”

“I sorry to cut in,” Shuri said. “But I need to borrow Sergeant Barnes.”

Shuri used little robots to fix his nerve endings and started to map out how to replace the arm and get it to work with this new damage. 

Bucky falls asleep again and when he wakes up he has a new arm, the vibranium cuts higher onto his shoulder reaching up to his neck. 

Bucky felt more awake than he has in days, his wounds are healing quickly. Sam is there, he is there all the time, he talks about everything and nothing. Steve comes in and out, still there all the time but for some reason, Sam’s company almost matters more. 

The neck brace was removed and the other casts changed out for braces the allowed limited movement. He healed fast but every second dragged along. Words died in his mouth and Sam keep looking at him like he’s already gone. 

Bucky broke after he started to walk again. He’s known for almost two weeks but he can’t say anything because with all the drugs maybe he doesn’t know what he thinks he knows. “Why are you looking at me like that?” 

Sam is reading. He looked up. “Like what?” 

“Like I’m dying or something,” Bucky’s never claimed to be good with words. 

Sam put down his book. “I saw you almost die,” Sam moved closer to Bucky, something raw on his face. “You were falling and I couldn’t do anything. Every time I look at you I see you falling.” 

Bucky bowed his head. “I'll tell you this until you believe me; you couldn't have done anything." 

“I’m supposed to watch your back.”

“We get hurt in this line of work.”

“You idiot,” Sam shook his head. “This time wasn’t normal and you know that. This wasn’t a flesh wound or anything like it. I thought I lost you, you moron.” 

Bucky opened his mouth and then closed it. He’s not hallucinating now. Or maybe he is, who knows? Hydra messed with his brain so much this could all be fake, conjured to delude himself. Maybe it’s a cruel joke. 

Bucky moved his feels the pain of the mending bones. Could they fake that? Is he trapped in a cold cell dreaming up a man like Sam to be there? 

“This is real?” Bucky asked, feeling stupid, so terrible stupid right now. He was sinking, slow and deep. “I can’t shake the feeling none of this real.”

“I’m pretty damn real,” Sam's eyes were filled with concern but he didn’t look at Bucky like he was dumb. 

Bucky swallowed. He felt in purgatory, Hell on one side Heaven on the other. “I don’t think I could make this up.” 

“Now that we have that settled, you should rest.” 

“I don’t want to rest,” Bucky suddenly has such an urge to do something stupid. To open the box and see if the damn cat was alive or not. “I want something else.” 

Sam has a little smile on his face, he looked cocky and wonderful and he’s there not expecting him to be anyone else other than the Bucky that’s left. “If you think that will distract me from the fact that you should be sleeping, you’re not healed all the way yet.” 

Bucky is feeling brave and is much too daring. “If I promise it’s not a distraction, can I kiss you?” 

Sam’s eyebrows raise but he doesn’t look all that surprised. “I guess you’re not as dumb as I thought,” Sam said and kissed him. It was soft and gentle because Bucky’s body was still healing. “You need to stop falling.” 

“Then you’d have no one to catch,” Bucky whispered against Sam’s lips. He felt warm and languid, as if he’s been wound tight this whole time and now can relax. “I think you like saving me.” 

“Of course I do but if something like this happens you run out of luck, I'll have to kill you,” Sam placed another gentle kiss on Bucky’s lips. “And if your dead don’t think you can escape me, I’ll raise you from the grave just to send you back.” 

Bucky couldn’t stop smiling. “I don’t doubt it.” 

“I hate you,” Sam leaned back into his own chair. There was heat behind the words and Sam was all grins and gleaming eyes. 

“I hate you too.”


End file.
